by Ivy Asher
Flint grinds his teeth, and Alder moves up next to him, murmurin’ quietly like he’s tryin’ to talk him down. Worry claws over my gut. I don’t want my mates to hate my sister’s mates.
“Okay, let’s take a break,” Delta announces, walkin’ over to step between the two sides. She holds her arms up as though she’s about to herd a bunch of feral cats. “Jerif, you owe me a massage, and Rafferty, if you don’t come too, Strut won’t feed me edible food, so let’s go,” Delta says, offerin’ them a smile.
“What about us?” Crux asks with a playful pout.
Desire heats Delta’s gaze as she looks over. “Well, I’ll need you and Echo to help me scrub my back in the shower,” she purrs, and her other two mates perk up with anticipation.
Delta starts herdin’ them toward the doorway before turnin’ back to me. “You’ll be sore,” she tells me, gesturin’ to the wings at my back. “We have a sauna down the hall to the left that will help loosen up your muscles. Go take advantage of it and talk with your mates about cheap shots that piss off their sister-in-law,” she teases, but there’s a flash of warnin’ in her gaze.
I nod and give her a smile that she quickly returns before focusin’ on gettin’ her mates out of here. I can see clearly in that one look that Delta is sympathetic with Flint and Alder’s anger, but she’s not gonna stand by and let them take shots at the demons she cares about. Flint just got a get out of jail free card, but there won’t be another one from her.
I sigh and look over at Flint. “Got that out of your system now?”
He just shrugs.
“Come on, you two,” I huff as I reach for their hands. “Let’s go talk about how to play nice and forgive others.”
I pull them in the direction that Delta indicated and hope I can talk some sense into them—Flint in particular. We have enough chaos goin’ on all around us, and we don’t need to add to it. I just hope I can get my mates to get on board with the whole make love not war plan I’m about to pitch.
32
This is the biggest sauna I’ve ever seen.
Okay, it’s the only sauna I’ve ever seen except for the ones on TV, but still. Even though I’m not a girl accustomed to goin’ to spas or maintainin’ a gym membership with a ritzy sauna, I can still spot fancy when I see it.
These four cedar walls smell divine. I settle back against the hot wall, lettin’ my wings slump behind me as I breathe in slowly. The softwood bench beneath my towel-clad body is just as warm as everythin’ else, immediately soothin’ the worry and aches from my body.
There’s a long shelf of river rocks that takes up the entire right side of the sauna, the smooth stones resemblin’ the ones hangin’ on the chain around my neck. Alder leans forward and picks up the stainless steel shower hose set on the wall behind it. The second he does, trickles of cold water come out of the single spout, and he douses the stones, makin’ steam plume up in the space. Even more cedar and somethin’ that smells faintly of jasmine fills the air.
“Damn, this thing sure is nice,” I muse.
Alder settles back with a hum, and I can’t help but ogle both him and Flint. They’re both naked except for the white towels wrapped around their waists, and my eyes keep bouncin’ between them. I thoroughly enjoyed watchin’ them work out, well...right up until it turned into a fight, anyway. Flint and Alder move with such grace and confidence it’s impossible not to track their every move when they’re in a room.
I thought they were sexy before as they climbed ropes and lifted weights, but now? Clad in only terry cloth with beads of steam and sweat clingin’ to their defined muscles as they relax beside me? Every part of me has taken notice. So much so that I start squirmin’ on the bench, my very own sauna steamin’ up between my thighs.
What was I gonna talk to them about again? Oh right, cheap shots and white flags.
I brush away my peaked interest and try to figure out the best way to talk to Flint and Alder about their behavior. Flint cracks an eye open and turns toward me, those storm-gray eyes cuttin’ right through the debate in my head. “You think this cedar is enough to cover it up?” he rumbles.
“Huh?”
His mouth hitches up in the corner. “Your arousal, Peaches. We can smell it.”
My eyes flick from him to Alder, and sure enough, my yellow-haired demon has more than just sweat drippin’ down his body—there’s desire bleedin’ out of his candied eyes too. His lavender skin is darker than usual from the heat, and I find myself wantin’ to trace every single one of his watercolor blossoms with my tongue.
“Well, I’m sittin’ half naked next to you two, and you’re hotter than a Georgian summer,” I admit. “I still can’t believe you’re my mates,” I say, the term tastin’ more and more delicious each time I say it.
“Well, believe it,” Alder says, his hand comin’ out to skate over my arm. It shouldn’t be possible in this heated room, but just that touch sends a shiver down my spine, makin’ my wings flutter slightly.
“I won’t do it again,” Flint confesses, his head tilted back against the wood planked wall and his eyes closed.
“Do what?” I ask, confused.
“I won’t go after Delta’s mates. I got it all out of my system,” he tells me casually, and I study the planes of his face for a moment, but I don’t detect any bullshit.
“Okay, good,” I chirp, decidin’ I can live with that. Flint does appear infinitely more relaxed after cleanin’ Jerif’s clock with a right hook.
I look over to Alder, but he holds his hands up in surrender. “I’m moving on too,” he concedes, and I nod once.
Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.
I relax a little bit more, glad that’s over with. I look to the guys and feel gratitude and relief wash through me. I never in a million years thought I’d end up with a couple of guys like them, but damn, I got lucky. Not only are they sexy and protective, but they listen to me too.
“I must’ve broken a lot of she-demon hearts by takin’ y’all off the market,” I say, not at all feelin’ guilty about that.
Alder shrugs while Flint gets up and goes to the shelf inlaid near the sauna’s door and a hidden cabinet I hadn’t even noticed before. “Do we need to have the talk, Peaches?” he asks, as I watch the marble-gray veins of his back move with the bunchin’ of his muscles as he opens the cabinet door—which I now realize is an ice box. He picks up a chilled pitcher and starts fillin’ water in a glass before he comes over and hands it to me, along with a cold wet washcloth.
I take them both gratefully, gulpin’ down the cold water and passin’ it off to Alder so he can have a drink too before I drape the cold cloth around the back of my neck. It feels heavenly. “What talk?” I query. Did I do somethin’ worthy of a lecture?
Flint takes the empty cup from Alder and drains his own glass before he tosses a cold washcloth to him too. He then sits back down on the bench with a cool cloth around his own neck, and settles me with a look. “The roster.”
His meanin’ dawns on me, and I squirm a little. “Oh. Uhh, no?”
Alarm bells ring in my mind, and there’s a steady chant of red alert goin’ off in my head. Mayday! Mayday! How the hell did we get on this topic?
Flint smiles and swipes his washcloth over his face and chest, and damn if he doesn’t look sexy doin’ it. I wanna lean in and lick those water droplets right off his rock-hard skin. Maybe that will steer us to safer waters.
“Well, let’s do it anyway,” he says as Alder gives him a nod.
“That’s alright,” I announce, a little too high-pitched. “We really don’t need to,” I tell them, because I don’t. Whoever they hooked up with before me...it doesn’t matter, and frankly, I don’t wanna think about it. I also really don’t want them askin’ me about my business before them either. I don’t want anythin’ taintin’ what we have here and now.
“We don’t want to hide anything from you, and we’ve lived a lot longer than you have,” Flint says. “And of course, we�
��ve fucked she-demons along the way.”
“Not humans?” I ask curiously, ignorin’ the twinge of annoyance that strikes through me at Flint’s words. I really don’t want to know, and yet I just blatantly asked them to dive into it even more.
Stupid mouth.
Flint and Alder both shake their heads. “No, we never dabbled in humans,” Alder tells me. “But any demon we had sex with was just that—sex. Nothing more. You don’t ever have to feel threatened by our past.”
“Even when Flint’s groupies show up to the bar?” I tease and try not to roll my eyes. Why do they think I need to hear all of this? Is this like a normal thing that goes down between mates? You kiss and tell and then try to never think about it again?
Flint rolls his eyes. “Especially then.”
I snort out a laugh, and then my mouth betrays me again. “So, have y’all shared partners?” I ask, because I’m a curious idiot. Why can’t my brain catch up with my damn mouth and shut it down before it digs us a bigger hole? In my experience, these kinds of rehashin’ talks never end well. I should end this and stop blurtin’ out stupid questions.
“Well...orgies are a thing in Hell. You don’t know that, since you haven’t been down there yet, but there’s a very free attitude when it comes to pleasure. So when we were younger, we participated in festivals and things, but no, we’ve never shared a partner between us. Not until you,” Alder tells me.
I’m a little surprised by that. They seem so comfortable around each other and me. I just assumed maybe there had been others before me to scratch all their itches.
“Alright, well, thanks for sharin’,” I tell them, hopin’ it shuts down the roster talk once and for all.
Alder and Flint look at me expectantly, and I find myself really interested in the corner of my towel.
“Anything you want to share?” Alder asks me casually, his butterscotch gaze takin’ in my fidgetin’.
Crap.
“Nope, I’m good, that was a nice talk. Are you guys gettin’ hungry?” I ask, tryin’ not to panic at the way they’re both now starin’ at me.
“Why are you suddenly so nervous?” Alder asks, leanin’ toward me.
“Who? Me? Nervous? Why would I be nervous?” I rapid fire at them, pretty much confirmin’ their suspicions with each squeaky question.
Why do I suck so bad at lyin’?
My mama always said I lie so bad I couldn’t get wood to believe it could burn. I guess she was right.
“What are you hiding, Peaches?” Flint asks, a predatory glint in his eyes.
“Hidin’? Why would I be hidin’ anythin’?”
Seriously, Medley, stop answerin’ a question with more questions.
The room goes quiet. I swear, I can hear myself sweatin’.
I peek a look at the two of them, but they’re lookin’ at each other as if they’re havin’ some silent conversation.
“Have you by chance...participated in any human orgies?” Alder asks me smoothly, but I don’t miss the curiosity in his eyes.
“What? No. I don’t even know if that’s a common thing here. Definitely not in Sweetgreen, anyway. Maybe in Colletville,” I tell them, tryin’ and failin’ to relax.
Flint and Alder share another look, and I can see that they’re workin’ to piece together what I’m bein’ so cagey about.
They both seem lost in thought for a moment, and then Flint’s eyes light up. “Have you been shared before?” he asks out of the blue, and I can’t help but sorta stop breathin’ for a second. How the hell did he guess that? He blanches at the look on my face. “Wait. You have?” he asks me, a little shocked.
“Fine,” I relent. If they really wanna go there, who am I to get in the way? “I’ve had a couple threesomes in college. Two guy friends were into it—sharin’, I mean,” I blurt awkwardly. “Not that I wasn’t into it too. I’m just sayin’, they started the discussion, and then naturally I was on board and—”
Flint’s finger presses over my lips in the universal shh gesture. “Okay, okay. We heard you, Peaches. We’re just trying not to picture you with other males who aren’t us, and having a very hard time not getting pissed and wanting to go kill those fuckheads in their sleep.”
See, these kinds of conversations never go anywhere good.
Alder glowers. “Let’s not talk about this anymore.”
I shake my head. “You two are the ones who brought it up. I tried really hard to tell you that I didn’t want to know because it didn’t matter.”
“I blame Flint,” Alder declares, and a giggle escapes my lips. I can’t help it, he looks so damn angry it’s adorable.
“Yeah, let’s move on. Just the thought of some demon hussy all over you, or worse, a whole pile of them, makes me wanna go all full Tribulation Medley mode, anyway,” I confess as I stand up and grab the nozzle near the shelf.
I quickly use it to add more water over the stones, and a plan to get our minds off this forms in my head. I need us to refocus on what’s really important...each other. “None of that is important,” I tell them.
“You’re right,” Flint says, eyes rakin’ over me.
“Mmm,” Alder agrees. “You’re ours.”
I beam. “That’s right.”
As I finish pourin’ water over the stones, so much steam erupts in the space that it becomes harder to see, but it’s addin’ to the ambiance. Just like the two half naked males sittin’ with legs apart, backs propped on the walls, abs glistenin’, and eyes on me. These two...just lookin’ at them makes heat spread through my belly and travel down the juncture between my thighs.
“If you keep looking at us like that, Peaches, we’re going to have to do something about it,” Flint challenges, the front of his towel already tentin’ up.
I bite my lip at the sight as I draw my hand over the knot of my towel that’s held securely above the curve of my breasts. Their eyes don’t miss a single movement. They make me feel like the sexiest woman in the world. Like no one else exists.
“Drop the towel.”
My eyes snap over to Alder. He’s leanin’ forward, his elbows braced on his knees as he watches me, his order hangin’ in the air. With a hard swallow, I loosen the knot, my eyes on his and a thrill shootin’ through me at his demandin’ need to see me bare.
In the next breath, I happily do exactly as I’m told.
“Drizzle the water over you,” he says, his hand goin’ over the towel to palm his cock.
With the nozzle still in hand, I lift it up and then let the cold water trickle over me, startin’ at my head before workin’ slowly down to my chest in exhilaratin’ rivulets that skim over my flushed skin.
“Fuck,” Flint growls. “Look at her.”
“Oh, I’m looking,” Alder replies, dark desire glitterin’ in his gaze.
Their eyes watch, enraptured, as I continue to let dribbles run down my fevered body. My heart pounds in my chest at the intensity of their attention. The lust in the air is so thick it rivals the steam.
“You don’t wanna think about anyone else bein’ with me, and I don’t wanna think about anyone else bein’ with you,” I tell them, my voice gone husky. “So come over here, and let’s erase everyone else.”
In a flash, the two demons are unfoldin’ themselves from the benches and stalkin’ toward me like predators. My mouth goes dry, and then I have two demons pressin’ up on either side of me.
I raise the nozzle and start rainin’ down cold water over the two of them, switchin’ off from one sexy chest to another and lettin’ my free hand graze over the water on their skin in an excuse to touch them, to feel their hardened muscles and hot flesh.
Alder grabs the nozzle from me as Flint move closer behind me to palm my ass, and I hear the telltale sound of his towel droppin’ to the floor. I arch against him, my ass drivin’ further against his already hard cock, unable to wait to feel that achin’ part of him.
“Flint…” I say breathlessly.
“Patience, Peaches,” he purrs.
Now in control of the water, Alder positions the nozzle directly over my breasts, the shock of cold water hittin’ my nipples and makin’ them instantly pebble. The second they do, his hot mouth is there, lavin’ the peaks and lickin’ up the water, suckin’ it right from my skin.
“Oh…” Damn, that feels good.
“Mmm, you taste delicious, Petal,” Alder murmurs against my skin.
Flint moves his hands from kneadin’ my ass to come around and palm my breasts, while Alder’s mouth moves down, down, down, takin’ the water with him.
He kisses over my stomach, skims down my side, and then I gasp, my eyes flyin’ open as ice-cold water is rained down directly on my clit. I only get a one-second warnin’ before Alder is on his knees, and his mouth is latchin’ onto me. His tongue swirls around me, lickin’ up the water as it warms against the sensitive bundle of nerves, and it feels sinful.
I whimper and lean back so Alder can have better access to all the parts I want his mouth on, and Flint’s arm bands around my waist to help hold me up. Flint trails kisses from my shoulder up my neck, while I writhe against Alder’s face and the things his mouth is doin’ to my pussy.
Flint’s hard cock digs into my back, and I reach up and dig my fingers through the thick strands of his hair. Steam swirls tantalizingly around us like it wants in on the action too.
“Whose mate are you?” Flint grumbles in my ear posessively.
Alder laps his tongue over my entrance and back up to flick at my clit, and I gasp and moan at the sensations they’re both wringin’ out of my body.
“Whose mate?” Flint asks me again, and I toss my head back and close my eyes.
“Yours, yours,” I pant.
“That’s right,” he says with stern conviction that makes my entire core tighten with possessive need.
“I’m gonna…” I don’t even get all the words out. I’m suddenly comin’ hard, a shrill whimper escapin’ my throat as Alder’s mouth plummets me into an incredible orgasm. Slowly, I rise back up into my body, but instead of bein’ satiated, I feel even more ravenous than before.